Glenn Schweitzer has been the Director of the Program for Central Europe and Eurasia of the National Academy of Sciences since 1985. He is the author of six books concerning U.S. science cooperation with the former states of the USSR and the countries of central Europe. In January 2022, his book Roots and Trajectories of Violent Extremism and Terrorism: A Cooperative Program of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences (1995-2020) was published. He has received awards from the National Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Ukraine Academy of Sciences.
Science & Diplomacy gathered four perspectives of U.S. scientists and former diplomats who have spent several decades involved in scientific collaboration with the USSR, Russia, Ukraine, and post-Soviet states.
This article focuses on a small number of important collaborative activities between the U.S. and the USSR and Russia. Most of the following examples are based on Schweitzer's experience as the first science attaché at the U.S. embassy in Moscow (1963–66); first executive director of the team that carried out the U.S. launch of the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow (1992–94); and director for programs in Eastern Europe and Eurasia at the National Academies (1985–92) and (1994–present).